Game 30, 2011: Reds 3, Astros 2

The last time a Reds/Astros game ended with a final of Reds 3, Astros 2, it was a balmy fall night. It was Jay Bruce who ended it with a blast to dead center off Tim Byrdak. This time around it was gloomy, cold, and the temperature was in the mid 40’s.

The hit was definitely just as big, and this victory came with a comeback that could serve as a major catalyst for the Reds.

A couple of quotes struck me as notable yesterday.

“It was like we were sleeping,” Jay Bruce said. “Then we woke up.”

“It was like, ‘OK, boys, we’re down to three outs,” Baker said. “It was like everybody’s bat woke up.”

“I think we felt pretty comfortable against Brandon Lyon and we got some pretty good pitches to hit.” — Joey Votto

The Reds had just one hit through the first eight innings. Then everything began to happen as it was drawn up. Drew Stubbs walked to begin the bottom of the 9th, a frame the Reds so often come to life. Chris Heisey singled, sending Stubbs to third base. Then Votto, Phillips, and Bruce–the three guys in the Reds lineup who have to make teams pay in these situations for this team to be great–came through with three straight clutch hits with no one out.

The win saved the Reds from falling two games under .500, and will allow them to go for a series win this afternoon against the Houston before heading to Wrigley Field. Yesterday, I said that the Reds needed something big to happen to get them going. I think a win like this qualifies.

@MLB (The Official Twitter of Major League Baseball) was ran by an intern last year (we would guess) who didn’t treat us favorably. They continually gave out #FF mentions to Evan Longoria, and other stars who don’t need their help in getting followers. We asked them several times for a little help, because while there are plenty of fans as big as us; we have a hard time imagining that we’re not a shining example of the type of return customer they want to create. The intern likely failed to recognize this, and sent us a direct message that “we gave you a #FF shoutout last week, thanks”. It was a bold-faced lie. We continued to razz them about stuff until they blocked us.

So while we aren’t allowed to follow Official MLB on Twitter anymore, we did notice this good tweet by them yesterday: